Gormley writes that “the groin injury suffered by Vokoun in Thursday night’s 3-2 shootout win over the Boston Bruins is worse than the one that sidelined him six straight games,” thus the likelihood the Caps will have to rely on 24-year-old Michal Neuvirth and, if not Neuvirth, rookie Braden Holtby for the postseason.

Save for a poor October, Vokoun had played very well for the Caps, so this is a considerable blow to their playoff hopes. Neuvirth’s coming off a strong performance in Saturday’s 3-2 shootout victory over Montreal, but his overall numbers (2.85 GAA, .902 SV%) are mediocre.

Suffice to say if Washington qualifies for the postseason and meets Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers in the first round, the goaltending matchup will be decidedly in New York’s favor.

Vokoun, 35, is a pending unrestricted free agent, so he might also have played his last game in a Caps uniform.

If memory serves right, that picture was taken during the canes game where they got rocked 5-0. Go figure on the shark.

stoneegratz - Apr 2, 2012 at 9:49 AM

subliminal, im pretty sure the canes mascot is a pig. SO im pretty sure if theres a shark mascot in the picture, and they are wearing their whites, that they were playing the sharks in this picture…just saying

Hmmm it seems the author has forgotten the last two times the caps have BEATEN the rangers in the playoffs…
Look i understand everyone wants to discredit the caps, but if we make it the playoffs are a whole other animal. I have my doubts too but the way I’m going to look at it is this: with the past few years of capitals dominating in the regular season, basically laughing at most teams and then failing in the post-season, this year could be different. Why? Well maybe with a rough regular season the caps will “wake-up” so to speak. I know it sounds absurd but this is all a caps fan has to believe in at this point.

Jason Brough - Apr 1, 2012 at 2:27 PM

Pretty sure I only said the Rangers would have the goaltending advantage.